In Sheep's Clothing
by Dark-Dreymer
Summary: A Tommy/Merton fic with the added element of daemons ala Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.


Title: In Sheep's Clothing  
Author: Dark-Dreymer  
Pairing: Tommy/Merton  
Rating: K  
Summary: I've seen this sort of AU in other fandoms, but I haven't seen one for BWOC yet.  
A summary of dæmons for those who haven't read His Dark Materials (And I know you're out there because I only finished the series a week or so ago myself): .org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_(His_Dark_Materials)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elleron jumped gracefully from the hearse and landed perfectly on four feet as always, the dæmon sat waiting on the somewhat dirty tarmac of the parking lot while Merton locked the car door. Padding along beside the Goth Elleron was quiet as ever. A small group of the football team were gathered near the school entrance and each shot a filthy look at Merton as he made his way up the steps, each of the boy's dog dæmons growling at Elleron who walked by with raised tail, a perfect match for Merton's unimpressed strolling and the two of them practically radiating 'I don't care what you think' as they had learned to do so very long ago before Elleron had settled.

The halls were crowded but people and dæmons alike parted to escape contact with Merton and Elleron all the way to their locker. Tommy was rooting through his own locker and it wasn't until Photion nudged him that he noticed his friend's presence.  
"Oh, hey Merton." Tommy smiled that heart-warming honest smile and finally managed to tear a thick textbook free from his locker, unfortunately it also loosened a number of other books and the resulting cascade almost knocked Tommy over.  
"Hey." Merton responded to the greeting and grabbed an armful of books before they could fall, rearranging them so they were held tight to his chest.  
"Thanks man." Tommy clapped Merton on the shoulder and swung his bag over one shoulder so he could slide the heavy textbook away.  
"No big deal." The Goth shrugged and glanced down at the cover of the book on top of the pile he was holding, "'The Big Bang Theory.' Why do you have this?" It was certainly confusing Tommy wasn't the sort to read science textbooks without a reason.  
"Oh that." Tommy picked the rather thin book off the pile and shoved it back into his locker, he continued to refill his locker with the pile of books as he spoke so Merton couldn't see his facial expression, "It's for religious studies. Seems pretty dumb to me though, I mean if there was a big bang what happened to the birds?"  
Merton exchanged a look with Elleron, it was a look of shared suffering they'd established after first becoming friends with Tommy Dawkins, "Wha?"  
"The birds." Tommy threw the last book back into his locker and shut the door, "If the big bang killed all the dinosaurs then why didn't the birds die too?"  
"No Tommy." Merton waved his hands as if he could physically wipe away the layers of misconception, "The big bang is how the Universe was created; there was a massive explosion that formed hydrogen and helium and everything that exists was formed from that."  
"Oh." Tommy's gaze sank downwards to catch his dæmon's eye and he rubbed the back of his neck; both were signs of embarrassment that Merton had decoded not long after they had first started hanging out. Any further humiliating conversation was cut short by the sounding of the buzzer for the first lesson of the day, Tommy spun on the spot and waved over one shoulder, "See ya at lunch Merton."  
"Yeah sure." The goth called after his friend as the quarterback set off down the corridor, Photion at his side.

As he was digging his own books out from the clutter in his locker and being mentally chastised by his dæmon for not being tidier Merton overheard a couple of sophomore girls talking.  
"I still can't believe his dæmon is a sheep, I mean how lame can you get?"  
"I know." The other girl's voice was full of happiness, but a bitter sort that angered Merton; "The rest of the team have dog dæmons and his..."  
Merton pushed himself away from his locker and set off for Chemistry class; "They don't know him." He muttered to himself.  
Elleron padded alongside him, dancing up his jeans and settling into waiting arms; "Not like we know him." The dæmon agreed, head tucked to Merton's angry heartbeat in a soothing manner.

Merton and Elleron had both worked very hard to understand Tommy and Photion, but once they had they found themselves quite angry at the rest of the school for not knowing. Tommy was one of the most popular guys in school but nobody even understood why Photion had taken the form he'd chosen, leading to nasty little conversations like the one he'd just witnessed. Merton remembered the day in seventh grade where he'd borrowed a copy of the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe from the library and he and Elleron had stayed up late that night reading through the great literature; after a third read through of 'The Raven' Elleron had taken the shape of a midnight black tomcat with sleek glossy fur and at the point Merton had known that his dæmon would take no other shape for the rest of their lives, they'd found who they were going to be. So it irked the Goth that the school was making a mockery of the experience Tommy must have gone through with his dæmon to find Photion's true shape.

The real reason for all the gossiping and laughter was misunderstanding; Merton knew the student body associated sheep with conformity and as such they were assuming Tommy was a mindless follower. Nothing could be further from the truth, the short-lived trend with the flea collars had proven that much, the real reason for Photion's form lay in front of everyone's eyes but they wouldn't notice the most important detail: Photion was male.

It was very rare to have a dæmon who was the same gender as you, Merton had gone through his childhood proud of his individuality in that regard and was actually slightly disappointed to find out Tommy was the same because it made him less unique. While most people wouldn't notice the importance of a dæmon's gender Merton knew better. Rams had curled horns atop their forehead that were used for defense or fighting with other males during mating season (Or in the case of Photion; for knocking aside opponent's dæmons during a football game) this accounted for the way Tommy would fight any threat to the town and his possessiveness over love interests; but the strongest reason for Photion's ram form was sociality. Sheep stayed in large herds and Merton knew his friend craved close social interaction.

"Getting angry won't solve anything." Elleron hopped out of Merton's hands, slipping ever so slightly on the smooth surface of the lab table before his claws found purchase.  
"Why do you always have to give me advice, why can't you ever leave me to stew?" Merton muttered, but he could feel the laughter in the heart of his dæmon and had to smile back.

It often struck Merton as odd that a werewolf had a sheep dæmon, it was quite like that old saying 'A wolf in sheep's clothing.' Though one of the first things they had learned in regards to Tommy's transformations was that it wasn't exclusive to Tommy. Photion would always shift from his settled form and take the shape of a slightly scraggly wolf just like he had done when Tommy was younger. Perhaps the students would approve more of Photion's wolf form, but Merton did not. Normally it was taboo to touch another person's dæmon (Once when they were kids Merton and Becky had gotten into a fight and during the struggle their hands had strayed towards each other's dæmon, Merton wondered if he'd ever forget that feeling of being physically ill and emotionally damaged in unison) but Tommy and Merton had crossed the line of friendship and strayed into something more a while ago; and almost by accident they had been pleasantly surprised to learn that touching each other's dæmon wasn't as bad as with anyone else; slightly scary to be touching something so deeply connected to each other, but the strong trust in their friendship held true and they ignored the slight fear and relished the rush of pure joy in the gesture.

Merton had touched Photion in his ram form a few times, it was delightful to run his hands through the soft woolen coat (Normally while lying on his bed, Tommy curled against his side with one hand curling over Elleron's fur) and he had also experienced touching Tommy's dæmon while he was wolfed out, it had been to calm Tommy down and it had definitely worked but there was something different in the shaggy coat of the wolf fur that worried Merton slightly. He sometimes thought of Tommy was a wolf in sheep's clothing, but Tommy had been a man before he was a wolf and his heart stayed true no matter his shape; so perhaps it was better to say Tommy was a sheep in wolf's clothing.

"Even if they don't understand, we do." Elleron purred and licked Merton's fingers to cheer the Goth up as he had often done when they were younger.  
"Yeah, we do." Merton agreed, running on hand over the 'T+M' 'E+P' love-hearts he'd drawn on the inside cover of his exercise book, before turning to a clean page and scrawling down the date.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote this to get my main ideas down; I'm probably going to go back and rewrite this idea in more depth (Most likely detailing the start of Tommy and Merton's friendship, turning to relationship, with Elleron and Photion there to guide and likely mess things up a little.)

What do you think of the dæmon forms I chose for them both? Do you agree with my reasoning or do you have an opinion on what forms the boys dæmons would settle into? What are you reasons? Do you have a better name for their dæmons, something that really fits their personalities? Come on, discuss people ^^


End file.
